New Titles Added to Xbox Game Pass Will Have Severe Consequences for Indie Retailers
Last week Microsoft dropped a huge bomb on gamers worldwide when they announced that all new Microsoft titles, like Crackdown 3, will be available through the Xbox Game Pass on launch day. Following the announcement Gameware, an Austrian retailer, announced they would no longer sell Xbox game products. And as it turns out, this isn’t the only retailer that has a problem with the recent Xbox Game Pass announcement.
GameIndustry.biz recently spoke to a few different British retailers about Microsoft’s recent move, and they aren’t too pleased. Stuart Benson of Extreme Gamez in Leicestershire explained why this new expansion of the Xbox Game Pass is bad for independent retailers around the world. “Essentially, it’s made [our Xbox One business] worthless overnight. Why would people buy a second-hand game when they can just pay a tenner and get a massive catalogue of titles to keep them going? Effectively overnight they’ve made it not worth doing. Why should we support them and sell their consoles and accessories if we’re going to get very little out of it? We don’t make anything off their digital selection. It’s pretty pointless. We might as well go where we’re supported, which is Sony. For the consumer, it’s absolutely fantastic. For us in retail, it just kills us outright.” Much like Austria’s Gameware, Extreme Gamez will longer stock Xbox products. “I’ve got no hardware left, no control pads – and I’m not going to do an order now. I would have restocked normally, but now there’s no incentive for me to do so unless I get something dirt cheap.”
While some are calling this an extreme reaction, it makes sense for retailers to stop selling the Xbox systems as they make very little off of the sales. The real business opportunities for retailers is in selling software, both new and second-hand, and it doesn’t make much sense to sell a customer a system only for them to sign up for the Game Pass and never return to the store again.
While the expansion of the Xbox Game Pass to include brand new titles has some serious consequences for independent retailers, some like Christian Le Cornu, manager of Jersey-based Seedee Jons, don’t believe the move will be too damaging on sales as Microsoft’s lineup is lacking. “If Microsoft’s games line-up were stronger, if someone big like Ubisoft started doing this, then yeah, that would be a cause for concern. So, I’m not overly worried about it. It’s just a trend, it’s where things are going forward [that matters].”
It’s pretty unlikely that either Sony or Nintendo will get on board with a similar Game Pass model, however if they did retailers may be in really hot water indeed. What do you think about this reaction from retailers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and keep it locked for updates.